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Children's explanations of air pressure generated by small group activities

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Abstract

Small groups of 7–8 year-old children undertook activities designed to challenge their ideas about air. The dominant impression from transcripts of their conversations and constructed explanations is one of the fluidity and context-dependence of children's ideas, rather than the existence of coherent and stable ‘alternative frameworks’ dealing with air pressure. Limitations of the generated explanations can be traced to localisation of focus in looking for causative effects, and premature closure. The transcripts show that interaction within groups was characterized by exchanges at significant cognitive levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mathematics, Science and Environmental Education, Deakin University, Toorak campus, PO Box 224, 3144, Malvern, Vic.

    Russell Tytler (Senior Lecturer)

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  1. Russell Tytler
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Specializations: student research projects in science, school based course delivery in primary teacher education, children's explanations in science.

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Tytler, R. Children's explanations of air pressure generated by small group activities. Research in Science Education 22, 393–402 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02356920

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